Pressure Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe

Saint Patrick’s Day

Here in America it evokes images of green beer, shamrocks, leprechauns, and of course corned beef and cabbage. I wonder what the old Saint would think if he could see the parades in his honor today.

St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time – a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic. ~Adrienne Cook

Corned beef is a strange food; it is pickled, or brined, beef cured in salt. So why is it corned and not brined beef? Or “salt beef,” like salt pork? There is no corn in the meat (excluding what the cows likely ate in their feedlots [go grass fed if you can find it]), so why the funny name?

Corned Beef and Cabbage

The term “corn” comes from the Old English term used to describe the hard kernels of salt used to cure the meat. Why this usage carried over when “corned pork” did not I don’t think we’ll ever know. Maybe that will be included in Mark Kurlansky’s sequel to Salt: a world history, a very interesting read.

We had never made corned beef and cabbage before, but we knew we wanted to try it. When we read the cooking instructions for an hour per pound on the label we knew this would be a perfect pressure cooker recipe. We were able to shave three hours down to less than one!

If you remember our How to cook a Roast post and the friendly cow diagram the cut of meat traditionally used in corn beef is brisket, which is just above the legs of the cow.

Most corned beef packages come with a seasoning pack to use when you cook the meat. We decided to make our own flavor blend instead.

Corned beef needs to be boiled to remove some of the salt and to help tenderize the meat, which is another reason it is perfect for pressure cooking.

1. First we took the meat out of the package and rinsed it well under cold running water to remove excess salt and brine from the surface. When it was well rinsed we put it fat side up on the rack in the pressure cooker so it wasn’t touching the bottom of the pan.

2. Next we put in 4 cups of low sodium beef broth (no need to add extra salt) and topped it off with 3 cups of water (or just enough to cover the meat)

Finally we stirred the spices into the mixture: a cinnamon stick, a pinch of ground cloves (whole would work as well), ¼ teaspoon whole pepper corns, ¼ teaspoon whole celery seed, 1 minced garlic clove, and a pinch of dried mustard. Top the whole thing off with a bay leaf or two and you are good to go.

Bring the pressure cooker to high pressure and immediately turn the heat to as low as possible to maintain the pressure. Cook for 50 minutes and use the pressure cooker natural release method to open the lid.

While it’s cooking you can get your veggies prepped and ready for action. We used largely chopped carrots, cabbage, and potatoes.

When you open it the corned beef will have shrunk and will still be pink. This is because of the type of salt (nitrates) used to cure it, it will be cooked enough. Donness can be checked by making sure it is fork tender. (We actually had a hard time taking it out of the pan because it was falling apart tender)

Remove all but about a cup of the cooking broth, and place the chopped veggies in a basket on the rack of the pressure cooker. The meat should be placed on a platter and wrapped in foil to sit and rest to make sure the juices are all soaked in.

Thanks for reading.

"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate." ~Julia Child

Why learn pressure cooking?
It's 7 pm. The end of the work day stomach rumbles...

In one hand, a take out menu. In the other hand, the refrigerator door...its contents staring back almost as blankly as we are towards them. We want a homemade meal, but also want something quick and simple to make.
1. Simple and quick recipes requiring basic skills to become proficient in the kitchen.
2. Quality ingredients, not necessarily 100% organic, but meals without artificials and chemistry class additives.
3. To understand more of the story of our food and take small steps towards self-reliance.
It's true, there are many benefits to pressure cooking: the time savings, the taste, a small step towards self-reliance, sustainability... but the real benefit is in what we learn as we redefine our relationship with food. Good food can be fast. Good food can be easy.

Do people not know to run cold water over the cooker to release the pressure immediately. My son {bess his heart} would wait until the pressure fell on it’s own and find it wasn’t cooked enough. Our cookers are WAY old but cold water in the sink will solve the waiting problem.

Thanks so much, This is just what I’ve been looking for! I always wanted to try it this way ,
but didn’t care for some that I found until your version. I’ll never make it any other way now.
Awesome, my hubby says thanks too!

Personally, though I’m sure this came out great, it seems to be a bit of overkill: I can’t see what the beef broth added to the already full-flavored corned beef. If anything, the garlic and beef broth could result in something that tastes half of stewed beef & half of corned beef. I’m not even sure if that is what I would desire. Also, as the corned beef is salted & cured, the additional salt in the broth is not necessary.

Finally, the packet included with a corned beef is basically pickling spice, which consists generally of coriander, mustard, allspice, dill & black pepper seeds/berries with red pepper flakes, bay leaf, ginger & cinnamon chips & cloves. So, except for possibly changing the proportions, and the addition of garlic, the original packet would have been fine.

I just think the recipe made work the wasn’t necessary. The nice thing about corned beef is the simplicity which results in a tender sumptuous treat: Rinse off the meat, throw it in a pot with the spice packet & cook forever. And, using a pressure cooker gets rid of the “forever”.

When I make corned beef, I just add extra pickling spice and instead of bay leaves.

(I have completely switched to ground bay leaf. I buy it very inexpensively from Butcher & Packer and love it. It is stronger than whole leaf (so use less) and you never need to worry about having to search for & remove the leaves that never get tender no matter how long they are cooked. In fact, they are so tough, that most home spice grinders don’t grind them to a powder…but pre-ground will not be found in 99% of local spice sources.0

My pressure cooker (27 years old, a wedding gift) came with a little book full of instructions and recipes. It makes a difference whether you cool it right away, or “let the pressure drop of its own accord.” It depends on what you just cooked. For vegetables, you normally cool it right away by sticking the pot under cold running water at the sink. It doesn’t matter where the water hits the pot, it just needs to cool enough to drop the pressure. After maybe 10 seconds, the metal pressure valve drops down, and you can stop and take the lid off. Simple. I don’t know if the newer models are different. I LOVE my pressure cooker. It saves so much time, and it gives us fall-off-the-bone chicken, tender meat, and vegetables that are really soft (the way I like them) but still have all their color and flavor (and vitamins) because so little water is used. YUM! The only drawback is the noise, but it’s worth it for the good food and the time savings.

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